STUART — A law firm that represents at least a dozen clients of day spas in Martin and Palm Beach counties targeted in a human trafficking crackdown is suing two law enforcement agencies to block release of video recorded during a months-long investigation.

Days after the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and Jupiter Police Department announced the arrests of several women accused of managing five spas involved in soliciting sex and potentially hundreds of male clients, Stuart attorney Richard Kibbey filed emergency petitions with the Circuit Courts in Martin and Palm Beach counties, asking judges to stop the agencies from releasing any video recordings and customer lists known to investigators.

Kibbey, who says he represents clients charged with soliciting prostitution and other men who visited the spas but haven’t been arrested, also sued the State Attorney’s Offices in the 19th and 15th Judicial Circuits.

“We’re trying to get a judge to do what the police and prosecutors should do on their own, but we’re afraid for various reasons they won’t, and that’s not to release any videotape to anyone other than a person who’s been arrested attorney,” Kibbey said. “There’s a constitutional provision for personal privacy, and Florida is very specific about that against governmental intrusion.”

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A multi-agency investigation that began in 2018 revealed potential human traffickers were luring vulnerable women to massage parlors in several Florida counties, where, police say, they were coerced into performing sex acts on patrons. About 300 arrest warrants have been issued in the Orlando area, the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County.

In Jupiter, billionaire NFL team owner Robert Kraft, whom Kibbey does not represent, has been charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution in a Florida spa, according to 15th Circuit State Attorney Dave Aronberg.

Kraft, 77, is accused of twice paying for sexual services at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter.

On Feb. 18, as Martin County authorities were announcing multiple arrests and shuttered four day spas, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office asked Martin County Judge Darren Steele to order sealing evidence collected by investigators, including an application for a search warrant to install cameras inside the spas; the probable-cause affidavits; and “inventories and other documents” related to the investigation.

William Ervin Chancellor, 65, of Port St. Lucie, charged with soliciting prostitution and served with a Martin County warrant for deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution and soliciting prostitution CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE